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UW football to be on national TV six times in 2015

Wyoming’s football game at San Diego State on Saturday, Nov. 14 will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. MT.

The Mountain West released its football schedule of Saturday games that will be televised by CBS Sports Network and ESPN’s family of networks.

UW’s games at Air Force on Saturday, Oct. 10, versus Nevada Saturday, Oct. 17, at Boise State Saturday, Oct. 24 and versus Colorado State Nov. 7 will be carried on ESPN’s family of networks. However, which network and times for those games have yet to be determined.

If any of those games are televised on ESPN or ESPN2, UW and its opponent will receive a $500,000 appearance bonus per the Mountain West’s national television contract.

UW’s game at Utah State will be played on Friday, Oct. 30 and carried by ESPN2. Both schools will receive a $300,000 appearance bonus.

Question now is will UW get any more appearance bonuses for those games against Air Force, Nevada, Boise State and Colorado State. And, what will be the times for those games?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Boise State game is on ESPN or ESPN2. Boise State is a national brand now and has been good for ESPN’s ratings, especially in that late-night slot where it needs programming. I would expect that game to be a late-night start.

The Air Force and Colorado State games could be placed on ESPN or ESPN2, but I expect the Nevada game to be on ESPNU, ESPNews or ESPN3 (online only).

UW is hoping those home games that are on national TV are not late-night starts. That makes it hard for fans — especially those who have to travel long distances — to get to the games. But know this, once these games are picked up by national TV, those networks have control over the start times — UW has no say.

For a team that was 4-8 last season, to have half its games on national TV is good exposure. And the good news from UW’s perspective on this is that only two of the six are home games so the damage is somewhat minimal in terms of actual people not attending those games.

It would be nice if UW can get more money in terms of those appearance bonuses. It budgets for that each year, but it does so conservatively. An extra boost there would be nice. Perhaps if the Cowboys have a decent season and its opponents on these national TV games also are doing well, an extra game or two will be on ESPN or ESPN2.

ROOT Sports is another television partner with the MW, and has yet to announce its schedule of games for 2015. I expect the Sept. 26 game with New Mexico to be on ROOT.

What do you think, folks. Is this national TV schedule a good thing or bad things for UW?

1 thought on “UW football to be on national TV six times in 2015”

Wouldn’t be surprised to see ROOT also pick up UNLV game and Pac 12 Network to pick up Wazzu game. That leaves UND, E. Mich and App. St game untelevised. Might see a NoDak station in Grand forks broadcast the first game.